Air conditioning device for passenger vehicles



F. M. YOUNG Nov. 19, 1940.

AIR CONDITIONING DEVICE FOR PASSENGER VEHICLES Filed Feb. 3, 1937' 2Sheets-Sheet 1 //v v: N TOR Peso M You/vs v- 1 1940- F. M. Y UNG 2221,891

AIR CONDITIONING DEVICE FOR PASSENGER VEHICLES- Filed Feb. 3, 1937 2Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOI? FRIED M You/v6 Patented Nov. 19, 1940 UNITEDSTATES PATENT OFFICE AIR, CONDITIONING DEVICE FOR PASSENGER VEHICLES 2Claims.

The present invention relates to car heaters or air conditionerstherefor, of any type, in combination with novel means for circulatingheated conditioned or not conditioned air and admittance of the desiredquantity of outside air to the device.

Car heaters have been provided with blower fans, the heat beingcontrolled by changing the speed of the fan or by adjusting the airdeflectors or by adjusting a thermostat which is usually positionedsomewhere within the heater connections.

I provide means whereby the heating or air conditioning may becontrolled in the usual manner, in combination with means forcontrolling the admitted outside air and whereby all or any part of theair moved may be taken from the outside and mixed with recirculated air.

A novel feature of my invention is the by-pass -20 device whereby theair may be recirculated and treated and a certain per cent of outsideair added to the recirculated air; thus during cool weather a very smallquantity of outside air may be admitted and mixed with the recirculatedair and during warm weather the air regulating valve may be changed to apoint where all of the circulated air comes from the outside.

Another novel feature of my invention is the filtering means in theoutside air inlets, thus to avoid the inconvenience of having dust ladendrafts coming in open windows. With my device the interior air may ifdesired be replaced at frequent intervals by filtered air, the displacedair finding its way out of the inclosure through the small crevices inthe doors andmindows or on the floor.

To these and other useful ends my invention consists of parts andcombinations thereof or their equivalents as described and claimed andshown in the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. l is a rear elevation of my preferred form of heater partially insection.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the device shown in Figure 1.

Fig. 3 is a side elevation illustrating the device shown in Figures 1and 2 as connected to an automobile engine.

Fig. 4 is a rear view partially in section of my device illustrating theair inlets and their connections to the heater as positioned within thecowl of an automobile, similar to that shown in Figure 3.

Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the grill inlet.

Fig. 6 is a top view of the heater attached to the cowl board as inFigure 3 and illustrating fractionally the positions of the airadjusting valves.

Fig. '7 is an end section taken on line 1-1 of Figure 6.

In the preferred form of heater or air conditioning. unit, the devicecomprises a housing Ill having inlets-at its sides lI-|l and the motorl2 mounted therein. This motor is positioned forward of the housing asillustrated in Figure 2 and its two shaft ends are provided with cagetype fans consisting preferably of discs l3, and circumferential vanes M.for drawing the air through inlets ll-ll and impelling it outwardly anddownwardly as indicated bycurvilinear arrows in Figures 1 and 2.

I provide a depending casing l5 and mount therein deflectors it asillustrated, for diverting some of the air impelled by the rotor throughthe intermediate portion of radiator core H, which is mounted in thecasing l5 as illustrated. I provide a front plate [8 which is preferablyremovably attached and forms the front portion of the radiator inclosurewhereby the core may be readily inspected or removed from the casing l5.In the design shown members I0 and l5 act to form an elongated unit orhousing which when positioned as illustrated the heated air will bedischarged downwardly and slightly rearwardly. Member ll! of thehousing,it will be noted by scrutinizing Figures 1 and 2, forms asuitable inclosure for the motor and fans so the air will be drawn in atinlets H on opposite sides of the housing and near one end thereof andbe forced through core I! and discharged at the other end of thehousing; thus the inlets will be spaced a distance from the outlet.

In the design shown the core is provided with inlet and outlet fittingsand 2| to which the usual hose connections 23 and 26 may be made asindicated in Figure 3, having preferably a. thermal valve 24 and meansthereon whereby the temperature of the liquid passing through core l1,may be regulated or entirely shut off for summer driving.

I illustrate the heater or conditioning unit as attached to cowl board25 by means of bolt 26. In Figure 4 I have illustrated the unit as beingpractically centrally positioned within the car inclosure. This positionrobviously may be changed either vertically or horizontally.

Thus I have disclosed one form of a car heater which may be installed inthe usual way and having air inlets l l--! I. I provide preferably ateach side of the cowl as indicated in Figures 4 and 5, grilles -30 eachhaving a suitable air filter housing 3l-3l. The filter housing ispreferably rectangular in cross section and the filtering element 32 ispositioned preferably at an angle of 45 to thereby increase its area. Iprovide suitable means (not shown) whereby these filtering elements maybe removed and cleaned by immersing in thin oil, and replaced as is thecustom with air filters of the class.

I provide ducts 33-33 which are secured in any suitable manner to inletsII and to filter housings 3|. I provide cutaway portions 34-34 adaptedto be closed by valve 35 when this valve is positioned horizontally onits axis 36, the axis extending through the side wall of member 33 asindicated and having at its rear ends levers 31 secured thereto asindicated in Figures 4, 6 and '7. These levers are preferably secured tomember 36 so they are in a vertical position when valve 35 is half open,as shown by dotted lines in Figures 1 and 4 and by full lines in Figures6 and 7.

I provide serrated sectors 3838. The lower end of lever 31 is preferablyprovided with a spring actuated catch to thereby engage the serrationsin sector 38, thus to hold valve 35 in any desired position. Thus itwill be seen that by turning lever 37 valve 35 may be moved in avertical position to thus close the duct and leave the cutaway portionopen whereby all of the circulated air will come from within theenclosure; and the valves may be moved so they close inlet 34 wherebyall of the circulated air will come from the outside. Variouspercentages of outside air or recirculated air may be secured by simplymoving levers 31 one direction or the other.

An important advantage of my design as illustrated in Figure 4, isbrought about by the posi- -tion of valves 35 which may, if desired, bepositioned adjacent filters 3|, by reversing or turning end for endducts 33, thus to more perfectly circulate the air in the enclosure byspacing the inlets farther away from the heater outlet.

During warm weather the core may be made inactive and the full capacityof the fans may be used to move outside air into the enclosure; thuswhile the fan motor may be used to circulate heated air in the enclosureduring cool weather, it may also be used to provide fresh filtered airduring warm weather. Clearly a cooling medium may be supplied to core [1thus to cool the entering or recirculated air.

. Having thus shown and described my invention, I claim:

1. A device of the class described, comprising a vehicle of the closedbody type having a cowl extension in the forward end thereof, anelongated air circulating and heating unit positioned in said cowlextension, said circulating and heating unit having air inlets onopposite sides and near one end thereof and an air outlet at its otherend, grilles in the side panels of said cowl extension, air ductsleading from said air inlets to said grilles, inside air inlets in saidducts having two way valves with means whereby the relative quantity ofoutside and inside air entering said air circulating and heating unitmay be manually regulated.

2. A device as recited in claim 1 including; said air ducts havingenlargements therein adjacent said grillcs and having filtering pads insaid enlargements whereby the outside air entering said air heatingdevice will be filtered.

FRED M. YOUNG.

